Whoopie-do

A cold morning checking out some local spots with Mark. Jack Snipe easy at the first port of call, while Holywell was not so productive - no sign of the pink foot flock, and subsequently no tundra bean to be seen. Tree sparrow was new for the year.

Killingworth produce the tame whooper swan but the was no sign if any goosander or great crested grebe.

Gosforth Park was our final stop, with the woodland providing nuthatch and jay, while on the pools/reedbed, a single brief water rail was the highlight along with plenty of snipe.

Still lots of omissions to the January list, so lots of reasons to keep going out...

Walk like an

Egyptian, apparantley. Not the most exciting addition to my county list, but they all count I guess! Twitched after work with Phil... Its only a couple of months since I last saw this species - in Cape Town!

A little distant from the track to the pond at Holywell, egyptian goose is considered a rare visitor in Northumberland... I'd previously seen a single bird on the Durham side of Derwent Reservoir, so it was kind of nice to get one in the county. Although I do look forward to another, better, county tick!

Not much on the pool itself, with twenty odd curlew, redshank, lapwing etc.